Modular systems for floor coverings have been well known since long. There is a huge variety of documents that refer to them, whether coverings made of natural materials such as wood or cork or made of synthetic or artificial materials.
The most classical method for fixing the modules to the floor consists of placing an aggregate material immediately above the floor upon which the covering is to be placed. This method has several disadvantages, being one of them the fact that the modules are easily damaged as upon fixing, any expansion or shrinkage which is common in any material, will cause the appearance of cracks and deformations. Therefore, the need for replacement of the modules becomes more pressing, which is also made difficult by the fact that the modules are fixed to the floor.
In response to this problem, coverings in which the modules fit together by means of solutions involving a male member and a female member have begun to emerge. Several documents relating to this solution may be mentioned, for example, WO2001098604 document disclosing a “floor covering with coupling means” or FR2917761 document disclosing a “Removable floor, for example, for a dance hall, with connections and cooperating interlocking units with each adjacent modular element”, or still the EP2010733 document that mentions a “Connection system for a mobile floor”.
Additionally, document WO2006113228 “Sub-flooring assembly and method” refers to an assembly comprised of sections that include male elements and female elements at the ends of the sections and also discloses the method of assembling the sections.
The assembly disclosed in the cited document differs from the present invention in the way that the male element and the female element are both present in the same section, while in the present invention the male element and female element are in different sections. The method to assembly the sections also differs from the method disclosed in the present invention.
Other existing solutions, which are also mentioned in several documents, involve the placement of a support structure immediately above the floor, being the modules made to fit in this structure. Refer to the WO2010079462 document featuring a “Modular floor system” and US2009249732 document that mentions a “modular floor system”.